Jewel-support for the balance-staffs of watches



BEST AVAiLABLE COP (No Model.)

W. WARE.

JEWEL SUPPORT FOR THE BALANCE STAPPS' 0P WATCHES;

INVENTOR w, W

ATTORNEYS N PETERS. vmwm nw'. Wuhmgon. o. a

ee sT AVAlLABLE COP" U ITED ST TES P TENT OFFICE.

lVALTER \VARE, OF \VAVERLY, YORK.

, VJEWEILI-SUPPORT FOR THE BALANCE-STAFFS OF WATCHES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 294,168, dated February 26, 1884.

Application filed July 5, 1883. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern.-

Be it known that I, WVALTER XVARE, of Waverly, in the county of Tioga' and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in. Jewel-Supports for the Balan ce-Staffs of Watches and other Time- Pieces, of which the following is a full, clear,

and exact description.

This invention which is applicable both to watches and chronometers, and relates to the jewel-bearings for the balance-staffs thereof has more particularly for its object the prevention of injury to the balance-staff pivots and to the jewels in and against which they run, as caused, for instance, by jar produced in the falling of the watch or time-piece, or by crushing of the parts induced by indentation of the case, or by the handling of careless or incompetent watch-makers entrusted with the cleaning or repairing of the watch, and who not unfrequently crack one or more of the jewels when putting the parts together, thereby presenting ragged overlapping edges,which cut the pivot of the balance-staff, or who placethe balance-stall pivots or their jewels out of center when replacing them after injury, thus castingundeserved odium upon the original makers of the watch for its incorrect running in after years. To secure permanent accuracy for the watch after it leaves the makershands is accordingly very desirable.

To accomplish this result more effectually than has hitherto been done, and to secure more permanent accuracy for the watch or time-piece, my invention consists in setting the jewels or the settings which hold them at either or both ends of the balance-staff, but preferably at both ends, in a spring or springs constructed and arranged to provide for the yielding of the jewels both in directions which are transverse to the pivots of the balancestaff and in directions which are in line therewith, or either, whenever unusual pressure is brought to bear upon the jewels or the pivots, as caused-for instance, by a fall.

The invention also consists in a spring of special construction for such purpose, and which will occupy but little space and require only a slight and immaterial change of the bridge and potance.

Furthermore, the invention consists in securing the jewel-bearings of the balance-staff, or rather the settings which hold them,within the springs which provide for the yielding of them, by screw-threads on their exterior, ar- 5% ranged to fit corresponding threads'in boxes carried by the springs, whereby the jewels may be readily and securely inserted and be as readily and separately removed by a screwdriver applied to said setting, suitably concompanying lower parts, upon the irregular line a: w in Fig. 1; and Fig. 3, an inverted plan, upon a larger scale, of the bridge, upper j ewelbearing for the balance-staff, and a spring-carrier for said bearing.

,Ain the drawings indicates the top plate of a watch; 13, the potance secured to the under side of said plate, and C the cock or bridge on the upper side thereof.

D is the bottom plate of the watch.

E is thebalance-wheel; 7), its hair-spring; 0, its regulator; and F, the balance-staff, having the usual upper and lower pivots, d d, the lower one, (1, of which has its jewels in the potance;

but they might be in the bottom plate of the 7 watch. I are each composed, as usual, of a holeewel, e, and cap-jewel e, the settings f f, however, of

The jewel-bearings for the pivots d d which jewels for the two pivots-or it might be for only one set of said j ewels,but preferably for both of them-are set in springs G G-as, for

51 0 that on which the cut m is arranged.

, sired, there maybe an increased number of able. Said springs, as hercinbefore stated, are to provide for the yielding of the jewels whenever an unusual pressure is brought to bear upon them, and to attain this effect to the full- 5 est extent it is desirable that saic springsettings, as the springs may be termed, should be capable of yielding in all directions, both in transverse relation to the pivots of the balance-stafl, which works in the jewels and in a longitudinal relation thereto, although a certain amount of protection would be secured by arranging them only to yield in one of such relations. V

The springs G G shown in the drawings not I 5 only secure a yielding action for the jewels in every direction when unusual pressure is applied to them, and so prevent accident or injury to the pivots or jewels, and thereby impairing the accuracy ofthe watch,but they take up very little space and require only a slight enlargement of either the bridge 0 on the'potance-B, so as to present no interference with the regulator c or the escapement 7c. The peculiar construction ofthese springs G, as shown l2 5 in Fig. 3, consists in each being made of a circular plate or disk ofelasticmaterial, divided at and near its outer circumference by a cut, m,which joins at its inner end a cut, a, through the plate of interrupted outer and inner concentric ring shape, meeting by a branch, 0, upon the opposite side of the axis of the plate 1f dethese interrupted concentric cuts, with connecting branch cuts at their ends.

The jewels e e,with their settings f, may be secured in the springs G or boxes g, attached thereto, by a spring collar or in any other way; but I prefer to secure them by a screw-thread in formed on the peripheral exterior of the settings f, made to fita corresponding thread on the interior of either box 9, and to screw the same into their respective box 9 by means of BEST AVAILABLE COP a screwdriver fitting holes 3 or other openings in the face of the setting f of each jewel. provides for the ready and separate entry and removal of both the hole and cap jewels. As before stated, however, said jewels may be variously secured in their spring hearing or setting. settings f into the box 9, they may be simply slid into said box and be held there by a countersunk nut fitted to screw into the face or mouth of the box.

I do not abandon or dedicate to the public any patentable feature set forth herein and not hereinafter claimed, but reserve the right to claim the same eitherin a reissue of any patent that may be grant-ed upon this application or in other applications for Letters Patent that I may make.

I Having thus described my invention,what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. In a jewel-bearing for the balance-staffs of watches and other time-pieces, the combination, with the box 9, in which the settings are secured, of the single spring G, to the center of which the box 9 is secured, substantially as herein shown and described.

2. In a jewel-bearing for the balance-staff of a watch, the combination, with the internallythreaded box 9, of the exteriorly-threaded settings f f, substantiallyas herein shown and described.

3. An improved spring for supporting the jewel-bearings of the balance-stair of a timepiece, constructed of a plate of elastic material having a series of interrupted and connected concentric slots, and branch slot extending to and through the outer edge of the plate, substantially as herein shown and described.

\VALTER WARE.

Vitn'eSses:

JOHN Pownns, H. It. BUNN.

This

Thus, instead of being screwed by their 

